Indian space agency ISRO’s Chandrayaan program has been wildly successful. The first mission, Chandrayaan-1, was credited with discovering water on the Moon using a NASA-provided science instrument called the Moon Mineralogical Mapper (M3). ISRO now plans on expanding its capabilities, however, building and testing human spaceflight technologies are both expensive and complex.

India's overall goal is to develop the capability to consistently fly humans in orbit using indigenously developed spacecraft. In late February 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled India's first Gaganyaan mission astronauts with the ambition of launching them in 2025, and with the hopes of future Indian crews reaching the moon by 2040.

Over the span of 63 years since Yuri Gagarin first ventured into space, only the United States, China, and Russia have had the capability to launch astronauts into orbit, with Russia still utilizing the Soyuz spacecraft, a legacy of the USSR's space program. With India’s entry into crewed spaceflight, it will join this exclusive group of spacefaring nations, reinforcing its status as an emerging space superpower.

“After four decades, an Indian is poised to venture into space and this time around the countdown, the timing, and even the rocket would be ours,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The country's first astronaut was Rakesh Sharma, who flew with the Soviets in 1984.

India's plans for a human spaceflight program began in 2006 when the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) initiated preliminary studies on a space capsule – later named the Gaganyaan – capable of orbiting Earth for a week and returning via splashdown. In 2009, ISRO submitted these findings to the Indian government to secure the necessary funding, but the proposal fell short. Consequently, the first uncrewed mission, initially planned for 2013, was postponed to 2016.

By 2012, limited funding had cast serious doubts on the continuation of the program, relegating all related activities to a lower priority within ISRO. However, in 2014, the government considered proposals for an increase in ISRO's budget, and the crewed spaceflight program was back on the table. In 2018, the Indian Government allocated over a hundred billion rupees (amounting to $1.46 billion) to the Gaganyaan program and this definitive push came as Prime Minister Modi committed to launching astronauts by 2022, aligning this target with the country's 75th year of independence. This commitment revitalized India's ambitions in human spaceflight, setting a firm timeline for achieving this milestone.

ISRO’s proposals were to develop a capsule designed to ferry 3 astronauts to orbit. It will be lofted atop Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LMV3), India’s medium-lift launch vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, located on India's east coast in Andhra Pradesh. The launch vehicle has been in operation since 2017 and is India’s first rocket certified for crewed missions, having flown 7 times successfully. Future upgrades to Gaganyaan will allow it to rendezvous and dock with a space station and India is aiming to establish its own orbiting lab by 2035 with the first module planned for launch in 2028.

With revived funding, ISRO made significant progress in developing re-entry technologies, flight suits, human-rating the launch vehicle, and the flight abort system — designed to save the crew in case of an anomaly during the launch. However, like many aerospace programs, the Gaganyaan was behind schedule. The pandemic further exacerbated these delays. With the launch now rescheduled for July 2024, ISRO has conducted multiple tests to validate systems for the first uncrewed flight of the Gaganyaan. In 2021, the Propulsion team successfully tested the service module's propulsion system, which utilizes hypergolic propellants.

One of the most critical components of a crewed spacecraft is its parachute system. After re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, the Gaganyaan will initially deploy a drogue parachute to reduce its speed to subsonic levels, followed by the deployment of 2 main parachutes for the final descent. In August 2023, ISRO successfully conducted integrated tests for the drogue parachute deployment at the Defence Research and Development Organization's (DRDO) Rail Track Rocket Sled Facility. This facility features four-kilometer-long rail tracks that can propel test articles to supersonic speeds.

These tests are crucial as the drogue parachutes not only decelerate the capsule but also trigger the deployment of the main parachutes, which ensures a soft water landing. The Gaganyaan’s main parachutes have been under close-loop testing since November 2022, starting with an Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Test. During this test, a 5-ton mass equivalent of the Gaganyaan capsule was dropped from an altitude of 2.5 kilometers. The main parachutes initially deployed in a reefed configuration to lessen the load, a method similar to that used by SpaceX's Crew Dragon. ISRO plans to conduct five such integrated tests to qualify these parachutes for crewed flights.

The Gaganyaan spacecraft is equipped with a launch escape system, a crucial safety feature designed to quickly separate the capsule from the launch vehicle in the event of an anomaly. This system is mounted atop the capsule and includes solid rocket boosters capable of propelling the capsule away from the rocket to safety. The system is a puller system, which “pulls” the spacecraft away from the rocket, akin to the abort systems on NASA's Apollo Missions.

The launch escape system is integral to any human-rated spacecraft, designed to function reliably every time, although it is hoped never to be used. The first integrated test of the Gaganyaan's launch escape system from the launch pad was conducted in July 2018. This test successfully demonstrated the system's ability to operate from the ground. The crew module reached an altitude of 2.5 kilometers and experienced acceleration up to 10Gs before descending safely to the Bay of Bengal, located approximately 2.9 kilometers from the launch pad on the Indian East coast.

Later tests focused on the operation of the launch escape system during supersonic speeds. The first such test was scheduled for October 2023 where the Gaganyaan test module, integrated with the launch abort system, was launched atop a modified Liquid strap-on Booster L40 used on ISRO’s GSLV Mk II rocket.

The test achieved most of its objectives: the crew module separated from the booster at an altitude of 15 kilometers, maintained its trajectory, deployed its parachutes, and splashed down safely, later being recovered by the Indian Navy. However, rough seas in the Bay of Bengal caused the crew module to assume an unexpected orientation during recovery. To address this issue, ISRO plans to implement an "uprighting system" similar to the gaseous balloons used in the Apollo missions, which will prevent the Gaganyaan from toppling over in rough sea conditions.

This new feature will be tested during the second in-flight abort test scheduled for May 2024. This test will also assess the launch escape system's performance at twice the speed of sound, incorporate fixes from previous tests, and aim to qualify the system for crewed flights.

India is rapidly advancing towards achieving its human spaceflight goals, though there are several milestones to reach before a crew will be launched. Following the second in-flight abort test, ISRO's plans include an additional integrated airdrop test of the main parachutes, a second pad abort test, and two uncrewed orbital missions under the Gaganyaan banner.

The first uncrewed launch, Gaganyaan-1, will utilize the human-rated LMV3 launch vehicle to send the Gaganyaan capsule into orbit. This mission will not have astronauts but will carry a mannequin named Vyommitra. This mannequin will be loaded with sensors to collect data on the Environmental Control and Life Support System and during re-entry to assess the effects of weightlessness and radiation exposure on humans. It will also perform various microgravity experiments to simulate crewed missions.

Gaganyaan-1 serves as the first integrated test flight combining the space capsule and the launch vehicle. Before the second crewed Gaganyaan mission, ISRO plans two additional tests of the launch escape system to ensure its reliability for human spaceflight.

India has already selected its first class of astronauts, comprising Prashanth Balakrishnan, Ajith Krishnan, Angad Pratap, and Shubanshu Shukla—all Indian Air Force test pilots, reminiscent of NASA’s Mercury astronauts. Of these, three will participate in the Gaganyaan missions, with one serving as a backup.

"These are not just four names or four people. They are four powers who will carry the aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians to space. I congratulate and wish them all the best," said PM Modi when awarding astronauts wings at a ceremony at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Kerala.

These astronaut candidates underwent intensive training, which includes sessions at ISRO’s new astronaut training facility in Bengaluru, the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow, and further training is planned at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Post-training at Johnson Space Center, one of the selected astronauts will be assigned to launch on the Axiom mission to the ISS on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft this year.

This joint NASA-ISRO mission will mark a significant step since Indian Astronaut Rakesh Sharma's historic space flight to the Salyut 7 space station aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft under the Interkosmos program.

All of these missions will be trackable on the Supercluster App.